Old Betsy, who lived to be well over 100, lived with her son, Blind Sam on the shore below the peresent Captiol. Sho harvested clams and oysters and sold them to housewives. ~Washington State Historical Society.

The petroglyph

known as the "Love Rock" was taken from its original place at Harstine Island and is now displayed at the Tumwater Falls Park.

Legend has it that Indian couples

would sit on the rock looking out over the moonlit waters, whis-pering "sweet nothings" to their lovers.

~Deborah Morris, Olympian Designer/Photographer.

Ha-Pa-Ce-Wud, a Nisqually Indian, was the wife of Diaked, who was killed by Pat Kanim's scouts in the Indian-Settler war. She was killed as she ran across the Green River spit as "bullets flew like hail." ~Joe Jeffers photograph; Susan Parish Collection at www.shadow-catchers.com.

Our Culture

Culture -- refinement of thought, emotion, manners -- the concepts, habits, skills, arts, instruments, institutions of a given people.

When Cultures Collide

Olympia's culture did not start with the European settlers. American Indians had refined their concepts, habits, skills, arts and institutions for more than 10,000 years before Euro-American settlers and explorers arrived.

Ownership of land was a foreign concept to the Salish Indians. Land and resources belonged to the universe and were equally shared by all. As such, they were a giving and sharing people. Water was their source of food, their lines of communication and transportation, and their lifeblood. Their homes and tools were simple -- accommodating their lifestyle and food gathering activities. Games were serious business and a time of social gathering. The Bone Game celebrations lasted through the night and for days at a time and included betting on who would be the winners. Their art was framed in natural surroundings on rocks, depicting things of importance. A rich oral history passed down their culture, history and beliefs in speech and song.

Euro-American settlers arrived in the 1840s with their own concepts, habits, skills, arts and institutions. Many contrasted with the basic premise by which the Salish Indians lived. Settlers were farmers, cultivators, developers and entrepreneurs; they were an ownership people who shared by permission. Water was a source of access for conquering and claiming, and their homes were permanent and complex. Settlers' art was framed in the architecture of the buildings, in parks and statues, and in written words. Law and protocols defined by formal churches and educational institutions outlined their manners and rights.

When differences in concepts collide, conflicts occur. In December of 1854, the Treaty of Medicine Creek was negotiated in Chinook jargon, a lingua franca or trade language, inadequate to convey the complex issues of treaty making. This treaty was the first in Washington Territory. The Indian War of 1855-1856 erupted after the tribes became fully aware of the terms of this treaty and fought to secure a more suitable land base to continue and support their normal lifestyle.

When Cultures Combine

As the cultures intertwined, changes in traditions became more significant. After the war ended, some Indians resumed their traditional way of harvesting berries, roots and camas during the summer and returning to the salmon runs in the fall. But by 1862 many Indians had left their traditional lifestyle and began to work as loggers, or picked hops and berries in the fields. Indian women made baskets and cedar dolls, and sold clams, oysters and fish to their new co-habitants of "Chit-hoot."

Steamer ships drew near Squaxin Island each Saturday morning and transported Squaxin Indians to Olympia, where they sold their goods. Saturday became known as "Indian Day" and was eagerly awaited. Pam (Long) Schlaht, granddaughter of boat builder H.A. Long, recalls a story passed down in her family about how her grandmother Long raised a flag on bread-baking day to signal the Indians on Squaxin Island to come and trade fish for loaves of fresh bread. They came in canoes, as they had for centuries, to trade with neighbors.

The generations of Salish Indians had traveled by water and land to trade with others across the Cascades into Yakima and the Columbia River Basin. This did not change. Pioneers built homes and developed communities along these trade routes, worn deep by centuries of use. Settlers from other lands found their way to this area. Russian, Chinese, Asian, Scandinavian and European immigrants arrived in the Northwest, bringing new concepts, new beliefs and new skills that shaped and changed the region.

The Olympian Copyright 2000

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